Cat Sounds that Manipulate Humans

You may already be aware of you cat’s trickiness, but we found an interesting article on researchers studying cat sounds who have discovered that cats are using a soliciting purr to bend us to their will. Whether it’s for attention or food, cats have found sounds that are difficult for humans to ignore.

It’s a purr that is not a normal purr. Instead this purr incorporates a ‘cry’ with a similar frequency to a human baby’s cry. The purr is more insistent and can become annoying after a while.
It’s pretty interesting stuff. Our cat’s are very vocal, especially in the morning before breakfast and around dinner time. They also have plenty to say throughout the day and after reading this we’ll have to pay more attention to the actual cat sounds they are making to see if there is a difference.

If you would like to read more check out our previous post on Cat Sounds packed with lots of great info.

From the article…

Dr Karen McComb, the lead author of the study that was published in the journal Current Biology, said the research was inspired by her own cat, Pepo.

“He would wake me up in the morning with this insistent purr that was really rather annoying,” Dr McComb told BBC News.

Dr McComb said that the cry occurs at a low level in cats’ normal purring. “But we think that (they) learn to dramatically exaggerate it when it proves effective in generating a response from humans.”

She added that the trait seemed to most often develop in cats that have a one-on-one relationship with their owners.

“Obviously we don’t know what’s going on inside their minds,” said Dr McComb. “But they learn how to do this, and then they do it quite deliberately.”

Follow the link below to read the full article. There is a video and sound file in the article as well that’s is worth checking out.Cats ‘exploit’ humans by purring